Customer Reviews

The Only EKG Book You'll Ever Need (Board Review)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased both Dubin's & Thaler's books. At my school we were strongly recommended first year to read the Dubin book. And although I liked the pictures, I felt that Dubin's style was not conducive to my longterm retention and actual learning. Thaler's book is a quick read, and moreover, after rising to second year, I felt that the information was more detailed than that of Dubin's book. However, I do have some points of contention with the Thaler book. I felt that the some of the topics that were important (hypertrophy, bundle branch block) were a little difficult to find. My recommendation would be that while Dubin may suffice for first year exposure to EKGs, Thaler's book is better for actually learning them. Also, this may be my personal bias, but I did not feel like looking at the fill-in-the-blanks in Dubin's book for a second or third time in order to review for reading EKGs. My absolute honest opinion would be to have a copy of both. Buy Dubin's Rapid EKGs if you are a visual learner, and buy Thaler's book for a quick reference. I hope this helps!

I totally loved this book. It is fantastic for really learning and understanding ekg's. I looked at Dubin's book, but felt it was sort of insulting to the reader. I didn't like his 'see Dick and Jane' sort of format. Also, drawing pictures and writing your own comments? I am not five years old.

This book is gentle and easy and I really understood the physiology of how ekg's work. The understanding of why they work is crucial to being able to interpret them. I picked up the ability to intuit where and what was going on by knowing the electrophysiology. Wonderful! Now I feel confident when presented with a new ekg, I can work through the steps and then put the picture together.

What a terrifc book!

I was moderately pleased with the first two chapters of this book. Then, beginning with chapter 3 on arrhythmias, none but one of the many EKG tracings were labeled with the lead they were made with, and subsequent chapters have almost no labeling as well. This makes understanding the theory involved almost impossible, particularly since many tracings bear no resemblance to those of the normal heart (for an example, see p. 111). Though possibly an editorial oversight, the online version has not been amended. In addition, the definitions of the various waves given in the first chapter is inconsistent with terminology used in later chapters, and some important concepts are not defined at all. The book is full of nonsequiturs, forward references, and unexplained phenomena which seem important. Though comprehensive in scope for a book of its size, those seeking understanding rather than rote memorization of EKG patterns in order to pass some USMLE exam would do well to look elsewhere.

I've tried Dale Dubin on three different occasions and always gave up midway. This book is easy to read, keeps up your interest, doesn't clog you with unnecessary information, has a good summary at the end of every chapter, good clinical examples are provided and the best part is that it is quite funny. I actually laughed out aloud where he says wolff-parkinson-white and lown-ganong-levine aren't the names of lawfirms!
I managed to finish it in two weeks and it is refreshing to come across an ekg book that doesn't make you want to take extended break times!
Only thing is I wish the author had used more arrows to point out the specific abnormalities and that the last section of practice EKGS was a little more comprehensive.
But I think it is a good resource for residents and students. And I would pick it over Dale Dubin anyday.

I got this book my intern year and found it a great way to be able to interpret the overwhelming majority of ECGs I saw in the ED. I do think the title overstates things, as advanced ECG diagnoses such as Wellen's Syndrome, Bifascicular blocks etc require further reading, but this is an excellent start. Its very easy to read and will take you about 7 to 10 days to finish and remember.

I was amazed how many people who haven't read a basic ECG text start to finish have tremendous gaps in their knowledge of the fundamentals. I too had large gaps, which this book filled in. If you buy it, don't be fooled because it's written in simple english as opposed to some other texts which are written with dense sentence structure by thinking that its an inferior book.

With this said, no single book has everything you'll ever need for anything, so don't be mislead.

I'm a 4th year medical student. I was totally confused about EKGs until I found this book. A resident gave me this book, and it is AWESOME!!! It makes sense! It explains how the tracing relates to the anatomy in a simple, straightforward way you won't forget. You won't have to do the stupid thumb trick to figure out axis anymore--you'll actually understand how the heart works and be able to reason through it. I read about half of the book in one evening. You will definitely not regret buying this book--when you get pimped on EKGs, you'll be able to make an informed assessment of anything they throw at you. We supposedly have a well-known EKG teacher at my med school, but his books are haphazard compared to this. BUY IT.

I've been a nurse for some years, always worked with tele patients. I've never taken a 12-lead EKG class. Another RN had a different EKG book she was reading, I went ahead & read the 1st chapter. I thought that author made it fun. The only thing was it was one of those fill in the blank books, which i found myself trying harder to figure out the right word than understanding the concept. I'm pretty glad I purchased this one. I think this author is very matter-of-fact, again making the concepts easy, & I like his case studies. Before I started reading EKGs, they were just a bunch of squiggly lines, and after reading the book, they were still a bunch of squiggly lines, but I felt more educated. I'm reading it a second time, so that I can see why the lines between hypertrophies & MIs are different, which are making me say,"oh yeah, i get it." I'm also reading the 12-leads from my patients charts (before I read what the machine says), and getting most of them :)

I am a paramedic and love this book only because it helped with school and still has some good information for reference. This book isn't your solve all problems book but it is a great book to teach you and get you started on understanding ECG rhythms and will help you in the future of your medical career. This book helped our class out a lot only because our paramedic books only went over the minimal requirements and most of us wanted to learn more and advance our knowledge and this book did in fact help. Again if you are learning ECG and already know it and want to learn more into it than this book is for you. I have this book sitting on my shelf in case I even forget something or see something new and want to know why it happened or what it means. Good reference material.

Not a cardilogist, but work in the ER, and see many EKG's daily. This is the best and most logical way to become proficient in reading EKG's I've ever found. Used it to review for my recent boards, and aced all the EKG questions. Highly recommend!

I like this one much better than the 'other' EKG book. It is more easily understood, and is more mature in its presentation of the data. As you get more advanced, and need a refresher on EKG's this one will suit you better in the long run.